Multi-electrode implantable stimulator device with a single current path decoupling capacitor
Disclosed herein are circuits and methods for a multi-electrode implantable stimulator device incorporating one decoupling capacitor in the current path established via at least one cathode electrode and at least one anode electrode. In one embodiment, the decoupling capacitor may be hard-wired to a dedicated anode on the device. The cathodes are selectively activatable via stimulation switches. In another embodiment, any of the electrodes on the devices can be selectively activatable as an anode or cathode. In this embodiment, the decoupling capacitor is placed into the current path via selectable anode and cathode stimulation switches. Regardless of the implementation, the techniques allow for the benefits of capacitive decoupling without the need to associate decoupling capacitors with every electrode on the multi-electrode device, which saves space in the body of the device. Although of particular benefit when applied to microstimulators, the disclosed technique can be used with space-saving benefits in any stimulator device.
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This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/728,420, filed Jun. 2, 2015 (now U.S. Pat. No. 9,737,713), which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/745,339, filed Jan. 18, 2013 (now U.S. Pat. No. 9,072,904), which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/012,279, filed Jan. 24, 2011 (now U.S. Pat. No. 8,369,963), which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/550,655, filed Oct. 18, 2006 (now U.S. Pat. No. 7,881,803). Priority is claimed to these applications, and they are incorporated herein by reference.
FIELD OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention relates generally to implantable stimulator devices, e.g., an implantable pulse generator such as a Bion® device, a Spinal Cord Stimulation (SCS) device, or other type of neural stimulation devices.
BACKGROUNDImplantable stimulation devices generate and deliver electrical stimuli to nerves and tissues for the therapy of various biological disorders, such as pacemakers to treat cardiac arrhythmia, defibrillators to treat cardiac fibrillation, cochlear stimulators to treat deafness, retinal stimulators to treat blindness, muscle stimulators to produce coordinated limb movement, spinal cord stimulators to treat chronic pain, cortical and deep brain stimulators to treat motor and psychological disorders, occipital nerve stimulators to treat migraine headaches, and other neural stimulators to treat urinary incontinence, sleep apnea, shoulder sublaxation, etc. The present invention may find applicability in all such applications, although the description that follows will generally focus on the use of the invention within a microstimulator device of the type disclosed in U.S. Published Patent Applications 2005/0021108, published Jan. 27, 2005; 2005/0057905, published Mar. 17, 2005; and 2004/0059392, published Mar. 25, 2004, which are all incorporated herein by reference in their entireties. However, the present invention also has applicability in other implantable stimulator devices, such as Spinal Cord Stimulation (SCS) devices, an example of which can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,553,263, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
Microstimulator devices typically comprise a small generally-cylindrical housing which carries electrodes for producing a desired electric stimulation current. Devices of this type are implanted proximate to the target tissue to allow the stimulation current to stimulate the target tissue to provide therapy for a wide variety of conditions and disorders. A “microstimulator” in the context of this application means an implantable stimulator device in which the body or housing of the device is compact (typically on the order of a few millimeters in diameter by several millimeters to a few centimeters in length) and usually includes or carries stimulating electrodes intended to contact the patient's tissue. However, a “microstimulator” may also or instead have electrodes coupled to the body of the device via a lead or leads, as shown in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/624,130, filed Jul. 24, 2000.
Some microstimulators in the prior art contain only one cathode electrode. More specifically, in such devices, and referring to
Bi-electrode microstimulators benefit from simplicity. Because of their small size, the microstimulator can be implanted at a site requiring patient therapy, and without leads to carry the therapeutic current away from the body as mentioned previously. However, such bi-electrode microstimulators lack therapeutic flexibility: once implanted, the single cathode/anode combination will only recruit nerves in their immediate proximity, which generally cannot be changed unless the position of the device is manipulated in a patient's tissue.
To improve therapeutic flexibility, microstimulators having more than two electrodes have been proposed, and such devices are referred to herein as “multi-electrode microstimulators” to differentiate them from bi-electrode microstimulators discussed above. When increasing the number of electrodes in this fashion, the electrodes can be selectively activated once the device is implanted, providing the opportunity to manipulate therapy without having to manipulate the position of the device.
Drawings of an exemplary multi-electrode microstimulator 400 are shown in various views in
An issue concerning the design of any implantable stimulator, and especially microstimulators of the sort discussed above, involves the use of decoupling capacitors. One such decoupling capacitor 25, C, is shown in
Examples of the use of decoupling capacitors in the implantable stimulator art are illustrated in
Associated with each electrode E1-En is a corresponding decoupling capacitor 25, C1-Cn. In an SCS device 30, the electrodes can be selectively activated, and any activated electrode can be selected as an anode or cathode. Indeed, more than one electrode can be selected as an anode at one time, and more that one electrode can be selected as a cathode at one time.
Thus, assume that electrode E2 is selected to act as an anode while electrode E4 is selected to act as a cathode as shown in
This approach of SCS device 30—in which a decoupling capacitor is associated with each electrode—is generally non-problematic. In an SCS device 30, because the IPG is not implanted at the site of required therapy and instead is positioned at a less critical portion of the patient (e.g., in the buttocks), the IPG can generally be made larger than can the body of the microstimulators discussed earlier. For instance, the IPG used in the SCS device 30 might be disk-shaped with a diameter of a few centimeters and a thickness of several millimeters. There is generally sufficient room in the IPG to accommodate the relatively large decoupling capacitors, C1-Cn. Thus, many currently marketed SCS devices 30 employ IPGs having 16 electrodes (17 counting the case electrode) and 16 corresponding decoupling capacitors (17 counting the case).
As noted earlier, the body 55 of a bi-electrode microstimulator device 50 is very small, meaning there is a reduced volume within the body to accommodate multiple relatively-large decoupling capacitors 25. However, because such a device traditionally required the use of only a single decoupling capacitor, space within the body 55 was generally sufficient to accommodate this component.
However, the issue of limited space within the body of a microstimulator becomes very significant when a multi-electrode microstimulator is contemplated. Consider a multi-electrode microstimulator having eight cathodes and one anode (perhaps comprising the device's case). In such an architecture, and pursuant to the conventional wisdom of the prior art as understood by the Applicants, the microstimulator would need to have eight decoupling capacitors, one each hard-wired to each electrode. But as noted above, a microstimulator is intended to be quite small. This conflict either limits the number of electrodes a multi-electrode microstimulator can carry, or increases body size, neither of which is desirable.
Accordingly, the implantable stimulator art, and particularly the microstimulator art, would benefit from the ability to provide multiple electrodes while still providing sufficient capacitive decoupling that uses minimal volume inside the device. Embodiments of such a solution are provided herein.
SUMMARYDisclosed herein are circuits and methods for a multi-electrode implantable stimulator device incorporating one decoupling capacitor in the current path established via at least one cathode electrode and at least one anode electrode. In one embodiment, the decoupling capacitor is hard-wired to a dedicated anode on the device. The cathodes are selectively activatable via stimulation switches. In another embodiment, any of the electrodes on the devices can be selectively activatable as an anode or cathode. In this embodiment, the decoupling capacitor is placed into the current path via selectable anode and cathode stimulation switches. Regardless of the implementation, the technique allows for the benefits of capacitive decoupling without the need to associate decoupling capacitors with every electrode on the multi-electrode device, which saves space in the body of the device. Although of particular benefit when applied to microstimulators, the disclosed technique can be used with space-saving benefits in any implantable stimulator device.
The above and other aspects of the present invention will be more apparent from the following more particular description thereof, presented in conjunction with the following drawings wherein:
The following description is of the best mode presently contemplated for carrying out the invention. This description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, but is made merely for the purpose of describing the general principles of the invention. The scope of the invention should be determined with reference to the claims and their equivalents.
Before discussing the capacitive decoupling aspects that are central to this disclosure, the circuitry, structure, and function of an implantable stimulator device in which the inventive circuitry can be used is set forth for completeness.
As noted earlier, the disclosed implantable stimulator device may comprise a microstimulator device, an SCS device, or similar electrical stimulator and/or electrical sensor. However, for convenience, the inventive circuitry is disclosed herein in the context of a microstimulator. However, it is to be understood that the invention is not so limited. For example, the present invention may be used as part of a pacemaker, an implantable pump, a defibrillator, a cochlear stimulator, a retinal stimulator, a stimulator configured to produce coordinated limb movement, a cortical or deep brain stimulator, an occipital nerve stimulator, or in any other stimulator configured to treat urinary incontinence, sleep apnea, shoulder sublaxation, etc. Moreover, the technique can be used in non-medical and/or non-implantable devices as well.
The power source 145, e.g., battery 12 of
The coil 147 is configured to receive and/or emit a magnetic field (also referred to as a radio frequency (RF) field) that is used to communicate with or receive power from one or more external devices that support the implanted microstimulator 100, examples of which will be described below. Such communication and/or power transfer may include, but is not limited to, transcutaneously receiving data from the external device, transmitting data to the external device, and/or receiving power used to recharge the power source 145.
The programmable memory unit 146 is used for storing one or more sets of data, for example, electrical stimulation parameters as described further below. The programmable memory 146 allows a patient, clinician, or other user of the microstimulator 100 to adjust the stimulation parameters such that the electrical stimulation is at levels that are safe and efficacious for a particular medical condition and/or for a particular patient. Electrical stimulation parameters may be controlled independently. The programmable memory 146 may be any type of memory unit such as, but not limited to, random access memory (RAM), static RAM (SRAM), EEPROM, a hard drive, or the like.
The electrical stimulation parameters control various parameters of the stimulation current applied to a target tissue including, but not limited to, the frequency, pulse width, amplitude, burst pattern (e.g., burst on time and burst off time), duty cycle or burst repeat interval, ramp on time and ramp off time of the stimulation current, etc. To determine the strength and/or duration of electrical stimulation required to most effectively treat a particular medical condition, various indicators of the medical condition and/or a patient's response to treatment may be sensed or measured. These indicators include, but are not limited to, muscle or limb activity (e.g., electromyography (EMG)), electrical activity of the brain (e.g., EEG), neurotransmitter levels, hormone levels, and/or medication levels. In some embodiments, the microstimulator 100 may be configured to change the stimulation parameters in a closed loop manner in response to these measurements. Alternatively, other sensing devices may be configured to perform the measurements and transmit the measured values to the microstimulator 100.
Specific electrical stimulation may have different effects on different types of medical conditions. Thus, in some embodiments, the electrical stimulation may be adjusted by the patient, a clinician, or other user of the microstimulator 100 as best serves a particular medical condition. For example, the amplitude of the stimulus current applied to a target nerve may be adjusted to have a relatively low value to target relatively large-diameter fibers of the target nerve. The microstimulator 100 may also increase excitement of a target nerve by applying a stimulation current having a relatively low frequency to the target nerve (e.g., less than about 100 Hz). The microstimulator 100 may also decrease excitement of a target nerve by applying a relatively high frequency to the target nerve (e.g., greater than about 100 Hz). The microstimulator 100 may also be programmed to apply the stimulation current to a target nerve intermittently or continuously.
The microstimulator 100 includes electrodes 142-1 and 142-2 (akin to electrodes 14 and 14′ of
The electrical circuitry 144 is configured to produce electrical stimulation pulses that are delivered to the target nerve via the electrodes 142. In some embodiments, the microstimulator 100 may be configured to produce monopolar stimulation, which may be achieved, for example, using the stimulator case 202 as an indifferent electrode. The microstimulator 100 may alternatively or additionally be configured to produce bipolar stimulation, which may be achieved, for example, using one of the electrodes of the electrode array as a cathode and another as an anode.
The electrical circuitry 144 may include one or more microprocessors or microcontrollers configured to decode stimulation parameters and generate the corresponding stimulation pulses. In some embodiments, the microstimulator 100 has up to four or more channels and drives up to sixteen electrodes or more. The electrical circuitry 144 may include additional circuitry such as capacitors, integrated circuits, resistors, coils, and the like configured to perform a variety of functions as best serves a particular application.
In the example illustrated in
The external surfaces of the microstimulator 100 are preferably composed of biocompatible materials. For example, the capsule 202 may be made of glass, ceramic, metal, or any other material that provides a hermetic package that excludes water vapor but permits passage of electromagnetic fields used to transmit data and/or power. The electrodes 142 may be made of a noble or refractory metal or compound, such as platinum, iridium, tantalum, titanium, titanium nitride, niobium or alloys of any of these, to avoid corrosion or electrolysis which could damage the surrounding tissues and the device.
The microstimulator 100 may also include one or more infusion outlets 201, which facilitate the infusion of one or more drugs into the target tissue. Alternatively, catheters may be coupled to the infusion outlets 201 to deliver the drug therapy to target tissue some distance from the body of the microstimulator 100. If the microstimulator 100 is configured to provide a drug stimulation using infusion outlets 201, the microstimulator 100 may also include a pump 149 that is configured to store and dispense the one or more drugs.
Of course, the microstimulator 100 of
Turning to
Other external components such as a hand held programmer (HHP) 155, clinician programming system (CPS) 157, and/or a manufacturing and diagnostic system (MDS) 153 may be used to activate, deactivate, program, and test the microstimulator 100 via one or more RF links 154, 156. Thus, one or more of these external devices 153, 155, 157 may also be used to control the microstimulator 100 to provide stimulation electrical pulses necessary to treat a particular medical condition, and may be used to provide or update the stimulation parameters and other data stored in the programmable memory (146,
Additionally, the microstimulator 100 may report its status or various other parameters to any of the external devices via the two-way RF links 152, 154, and 156. For example, once the logic circuitry detects that the power source 145 is fully charged, the coil 147 (
The HHP 155, MDS 153, CPS 157, and EBCS 151 are merely illustrative of the many different external components that may be used in connection with the microstimulator 100. Furthermore, it will be recognized that the functions performed by the HHP 155, MDS 153, CPS 157, and EBCS 151 may be performed by combination devices or a single external device. One or more of these external devices may be embedded in a seat cushion, mattress cover, pillow, garment, belt, strap, pouch, or the like, so as to be conveniently placed near the implanted microstimulator 100 when in use.
With the implantable and external components of the system understood, an exemplary method in which the microstimulator 100 can be used to treat a particular medical condition is briefly illustrated. First, the microstimulator 100 is implanted so that its electrodes (142,
In some therapies, it may be desirable to employ more than one microstimulator 100, each of which could be separately controlled by means of a digital address. This allows multiple channels and/or multiple patterns of electrical stimulation to be used as is efficacious for certain medical conditions. For instance, as shown in the example of
As a further example of multiple microstimulators 100 operating in a coordinated manner, the first and second microstimulators 100, 100′ of
Alternatively, the external device 250 may be configured to sense various indicators of a patient's condition. The sensed indicators can then be transmitted to one or more of the implanted microstimulators which may adjust stimulation parameters accordingly. In other examples, the external controller 250 may determine whether any change to stimulation parameters is needed based on the sensed indicators. The external device 250 may then signal a command to one or more of the microstimulators to adjust stimulation parameters accordingly.
With the basic structure and function of a microstimulator now in hand, focus now shifts to a detailed description of the capacitive decoupling techniques that are the focus of this disclosure.
As noted earlier, an issue in multi-electrode microstimulators involves the electrode decoupling capacitors. Such capacitors are relatively large and take up significant space within the body of the microstimulator. Thus, a problem is presented when a microstimulator has multiple electrodes, because conventional wisdom suggests a need for multiple decoupling capacitors.
An embodiment of the invention contrary to such conventional wisdom is shown in
Despite the provision of a plurality of cathodes 322a-n, note that the embodiment provides a single decoupling capacitor 302. In this embodiment, a first plate 302a of the capacitor is hardwired to the dedicated anode 320, while the second plate 302b essentially communicates with the compliance voltage (V+) which in conjunction with the current generation circuitry 333 sets the current in the DAC 20. However, intervening between the second plate 302b and the compliance voltage V+ is a switch whose functions will be explained shortly.
Two types of switches are set forth in the embodiment of
During provision of a stimulation pulse, the anode's stimulation switch 310 is closed, as is one of the cathode stimulation switches 312a-n. Which cathode stimulation switch is selected depends on which cathode has been deemed most appropriate for a given patient's therapy. For example, suppose experimentation reveals that a given patient feels the best relief when cathode 322b is activated. In this case, during active stimulation, switch 312b is closed, as well as switch 310 in the anode path. Other cathode stimulation switches 312a and 312c-312n remain open. The result is a current path through the anode stimulation switch 310, through anode 320, through the patient's tissue (not shown), through cathode 322b, through the cathode stimulation switch 312b associated with cathode 322b, and ultimately to ground as dictated by current generation circuitry 333 in the DAC 20. Notice that the decoupling capacitor 302 is present in the anode path (and hence in the overall current path). Thus, the benefits of capacitive decoupling discussed earlier (charge recovery; safety) are preserved in the disclosed embodiment.
Of course, it should be noticed that any of the cathodes 322 could be chosen via their associated stimulation switches 312. However, because the decoupling capacitor 302 is dedicated to the anode path, capacitive decoupling and its benefits are maintained, even though only one decoupling capacitor is used. This is a significant shift in conventional wisdom in the art, which suggests the use of ‘n’ different decoupling capacitors.
The recovery switches 314 and 316a-n are activated at some point after provision of a stimulation pulse, and have the goal of recovering any remaining charge left on the decoupling capacitor 302 and in the patient's tissue. Thus, after a stimulation pulse, the recovery switches 314 and 316a-n are closed. (Actually, only one of the cathode recovery switches 316a-n need be closed, preferably the switch corresponding to the previously-active cathode 322a-n. However, it is harmless and simple to close all of switches 316a-n during recovery). Closure of these switches places the same reference voltage on each plate of the decoupling capacitor 302, thus removing any stored charge. In one embodiment, for convenience, the reference voltage used is the battery voltage, Vbat, although any other reference potential could be used. Thus, Vbat is placed on the second plate 302b of decoupling capacitor 302 via anode recovery switch 314, and is likewise placed on the first plate 302a through the patient's tissue via cathode recovery switches 316a-n.
While the use of recovery switches 314, 316a-n has been described, such switches are not necessary to all useful embodiments of the invention, especially if charge recovery is not a significant concern in a particular application, or if other means are used to ensure charge recovery. In short, the recovery switches 314, 316a-n may be dispensed with in other useful embodiments of the invention. For example, and although not shown in
The stimulation switches 310 and 312a-n and recovery switches 314 and 316a-n can comprise any switching structure or circuit such as transistors, transmission gates, etc. One embodiment showing circuitry that may be used for these switches is shown to the left of
As shown in
Moreover, and as shown in
As discussed above, in the embodiments of
However, some differences are apparent. First, consistent with the configurable nature of the device 350, the electrodes 340a-n are not defined or pre-designated as anodes or cathodes; instead, any of the electrodes 340a-n can be programmed to function as either the anode or the cathode. Second, in addition to cathode stimulation switches 312a-n, anode selection switches 330a-n (e.g., implemented as P-channel transistors) are present between the first plate 302a of the decoupling capacitor 302 and the electrodes; by comparison, the first plate was hard wired in the embodiment of
Regardless of what electrode is selected as the anode or cathode, the decoupling capacitor 302 remains in the established current path. Accordingly, the benefits to capacitive decoupling discussed earlier are once again preserved in the embodiment of device 350. At the same time, only one decoupling capacitor 302 is needed to service the multiple electrodes, thus saving room within the body 305 of the microstimulator 350.
It should be noted that during current recovery, one or all of anode stimulation switches 330a-n would need to be closed as well as the recovery switches 314 and 316a-n to short the first 302a and second 302b plates of the decoupling capacitor.
The electrode configurable microstimulator 350 of
A circuit schematic showing an implementation of the one-decoupling-capacitor technique disclosed herein is shown in
Embodiments of the invention using a single decoupling capacitor 302 in an implantable stimulator device have been discussed as particularly useful in the context of multi-electrode microstimulators. As noted, such devices have relatively small body volumes, and hence greatly benefit from the requirement to accommodate only one capacitor. However, the inventive aspects of this disclosure can also be used in implantable stimulator devices that do not comprise microstimulators. For example, in the SCS device 30 discussed earlier (
Alternatively, it should be noted that the disclosed techniques may not necessary result in the use of a single decoupling capacitor within a given device body, and instead the techniques may merely be implemented to reduce the number of decoupling capacitors within the device body. Consider the eight-electrode microstimulator of
While the invention herein disclosed has been described by means of specific embodiments and applications thereof, numerous modifications and variations could be made thereto by those skilled in the art without departing from the literal and equivalent scope of the invention set forth in the claims.
Claims
1. A stimulator device, comprising:
- a body for the device comprising a case;
- a first plurality of electrode nodes, wherein the first plurality of electrode nodes are each configured to connect to one of a first plurality of electrodes configured to contact a tissue of a patient; and
- a first set of circuitry, comprising: a first switch matrix configured to select any of the first plurality of electrode nodes as a first active anode and any of the first plurality of electrode nodes as a first active cathode to establish a first current path, and a first decoupling capacitor, wherein each first current path includes the first decoupling capacitor;
- wherein the first switch matrix is not configured to connect any of the first plurality of electrode nodes to a decoupling capacitor other than the first decoupling capacitor.
2. The device of claim 1, wherein the first plurality of electrodes are carried on the body.
3. The device of claim 1, further comprising a lead coupled to the body, wherein the first plurality of electrodes are carried on the lead.
4. The device of claim 1, wherein the body is configured to be implantable in the patient.
5. The device of claim 1, further comprising recovery circuitry for shunting both plates of the first decoupling capacitor to a common potential.
6. The device of claim 1, wherein the first switch matrix comprises a plurality of anode switches and a plurality of cathodes switches, wherein each of the plurality of first electrode nodes is coupled to one anode switch and to one cathode switch.
7. The device of claim 1, wherein the first plurality of electrodes comprise all of the electrodes configured to contact the tissue of the patient.
8. The device of claim 1, wherein the first decoupling capacitor is coupled between a first reference voltage and the first switch matrix.
9. The device of claim 1, further comprising:
- a second plurality of electrode nodes, wherein the second plurality of electrode nodes are each configured to connect to one of a second plurality of electrodes that contact a tissue of a patient; and
- a second set of circuitry, comprising: a second switch matrix and configured to select any of the second plurality of electrode nodes as a second active anode and any of the second plurality of electrode nodes as a second active cathode to establish a second current path, and a second decoupling capacitor, wherein each second current path includes the second decoupling capacitor;
- wherein the second switch matrix is not configured to connect any of the second plurality of electrode nodes to a decoupling capacitor other than the second decoupling capacitor.
10. A stimulator device, comprising:
- a body for the device comprising a case;
- a first plurality of electrode nodes, wherein the first plurality of electrode nodes are each configured to connect to one of a first plurality of electrodes configured to contact a tissue of a patient; and
- a first set of circuitry, comprising: a first reference voltage, a first decoupling capacitor, a first switch matrix coupled between the first reference voltage and the first plurality of electrode nodes, wherein the first switch matrix is configured to select any of the first plurality of electrode nodes as a first active anode, and wherein the first decoupling capacitor is coupled between the first reference voltage and the first switch matrix, a second reference voltage, and a second switch matrix coupled between the second reference voltage and the first plurality of electrode nodes, wherein the second switch matrix is configured to select any of the first plurality of electrode nodes as a first active cathode, and wherein no decoupling capacitor is coupled between the second reference voltage and the second switch matrix.
11. The device of claim 10, wherein the first plurality of electrodes are carried on the body.
12. The device of claim 10, further comprising a lead coupled to the body, wherein the first plurality of electrodes are carried on the lead.
13. The device of claim 10, wherein the body is configured to be implantable in the patient.
14. The device of claim 10, further comprising recovery circuitry for shunting both plates of the first decoupling capacitor to a common potential.
15. The device of claim 10, wherein the first plurality of electrodes comprise all of the electrodes configured to contact the tissue of the patient.
16. The device of claim 10, further comprising:
- a second plurality of electrode nodes, wherein the second plurality of electrode nodes are each configured to connect to one of a second plurality of electrodes configured to contact a tissue of a patient; and
- a second set of circuitry, comprising: a second decoupling capacitor, a third switch matrix coupled between the first reference voltage and the second plurality of electrode nodes, wherein the third switch matrix is configured to select any of the second plurality of electrode nodes as a second active anode, and wherein the second decoupling capacitor is coupled between the first reference voltage and the second switch matrix, and a fourth switch matrix coupled between the second reference voltage and the second plurality of electrode nodes, wherein the fourth switch matrix is configured to select any of the second plurality of electrode nodes as a second active cathode, and wherein no decoupling capacitor is coupled between the second reference voltage and the fourth switch matrix.
17. The device of claim 10, further comprising first current generation circuitry between the first reference voltage and the first switch matrix.
18. The device of claim 10, further comprising second current generation circuitry between the second reference voltage and the second switch matrix.
19. The device of claim 10, further comprising first current generation circuitry between the first reference voltage and the first switch matrix, and second current generation circuitry between the second reference voltage and the second switch matrix.
20. The device of claim 10, wherein the first switch matrix is not configured to connect any of the first plurality of electrode nodes to a decoupling capacitor other than the first decoupling capacitor.
21. The device of claim 10, wherein the second switch matrix is not configured to connect any of the first plurality of electrode nodes to a decoupling capacitor.
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Type: Grant
Filed: Aug 11, 2017
Date of Patent: Dec 31, 2019
Patent Publication Number: 20170340886
Assignee: Boston Scientific Neuromodulation Corporation (Valencia, CA)
Inventors: Jordi Parramon (Valencia, CA), Kiran Nimmagadda (Valencia, CA), Emanuel Feldman (Simi Valley, CA), Yuping He (Northridge, CA)
Primary Examiner: Michael W Kahelin
Application Number: 15/675,458